Poetry In The Valley - new video

Recorded after Valley VIntage Toastmasters meeting. 

Thanks to Dan Caldwell.  Looking forward to seeing more of your work.

Poetry In The Valley is our first attempt at sharing a different type of communication with fellow Toastmasters and guests.

There are as many definitions of poetry as there are poets. Wordsworth defined poetry as "the spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings;" Emily Dickinson said, "If I read a book and it makes my body so cold no fire ever can warm me, I know that is poetry;" and Dylan Thomas defined poetry this way: "Poetry is what makes me laugh or cry or yawn, what makes my toenails twinkle, what makes me want to do this or that or nothing."


Poetry is a lot of things to a lot of people. Homer's epic,The Oddysey, described the wanderings of the adventurer, Odysseus, and has been called the greatest story ever told. During the English Renaissance, dramatic poets like John Milton, Christopher Marlowe, and of course Shakespeare gave us enough to fill textbooks, lecture halls, and universities.
 
So what is poetry?


Perhaps the characteristic most central to the definition of poetry is its unwillingness to be defined, labeled, or nailed down.

Don't shackle poetry with your definitions. Poetry is not a frail and cerebral old woman, you know. Poetry is stronger than you think. Poetry is imagination and will break those chains faster than you can say "Harlem Renaissance."


To borrow a phrase, poetry is a riddle wrapped in an enigma swathed in a cardigan sweater… or something like that. It doesn't like your definitions and will shirk them at every turn. If you really want to know what poetry is, read it. Read it carefully. Pay attention. Read it out loud. Now read it again.

There's your definition of poetry. Because defining poetry is like grasping at the wind - once you catch it, it's no longer wind.

from About.com, written by Mark Flanagan

May you enjoy all the poems you read!!

Fran Watson